Human Events Reports: Ronald Reagan famously said the most terrifying sentence in the English language was "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help." Maybe that's why, anytime I hear the word "ministry" -- that is, when it refers to a government department rather than a religious congregation -- my hackles raise, both as a person and as an artist. So, when I read that the Ontario Ministry of Education has issued a “decree,” I knew it was going to be yet another example of soulless bureaucracy invading creativity and freedom. And indeed it was.

As reported in the Post Millennial, the Ontario Ministry of Education has decided that “all books available to students are [to be] inclusive” and in line with the notion of "equity." The Peel District School Board took this to their dark, bureaucratic heart, and decided to remove books such as The Diary of Anne Frank, the Harry Potter series, and -- quelle horreur -- Eric Carle’s The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It’s probably useless to ask why Carle’s classic and beloved children’s book would be one of the choices. Perhaps the caterpillar’s eating habits, which lead him to become rather big, encourage fat-shaming.

After the various complaints as well as criticism from Ontario Education Minister, the Peel District School Board reversed the decision, but refused to accept any culpability. After all, they were just following orders as laid out by the Ontario Ministry of Education. And to be fair, given how vague the guidelines were, maybe the librarians shouldn't be blamed. They were instructed to sift through all of the books published prior to 2008, and determine if there was anything offensive or unpleasant in them, based on an ideology that is deliberately constructed to find everything offensive.